Thursday, January 28, 2010

Second wind for health care reform

My second day of visiting Capitol offices found mainly optimism and people really taking a breather. The President’s State of the Union speech last night helped. The Houses and the White House are talking although no one expects this to happen anytime soon. I heard about the seven stages of grieving from more than one staffer, and different people are at different places, but everyone was clear on one point – we can’t not do this. Reform has to happen; the alternative is unacceptable. And everyone stated their willingness, eagerness in some cases, to get back to work (and get it over with). I visited Rosa DeLauro’s, Lieberman’s, and Dodd’s HELP committee staff. The House and Senate were very close before the MA election and most expect much of that agreement to end up in the final agreement. But “it’s a process”.
Ellen Andrews